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The endocrine disrupting chemical o, p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) can affect reproductive organs, tissues and cells in several species. Treatment of human endometrial endothelial cells (HEECs) with 50 microM o,p'-DDT decreased their proliferation compared with the control. Microarray analyses revealed that o,p'-DDT affected biological processes such as the cell cycle, cell division, defence response and lipid and steroid metabolism, in cellular components such as the plasma membrane and chromosomes, with molecular functions involved in signalling, receptor and cytokine activity, confirming the results of the proliferation assay. Expression of five of the most differentially expressed genes identified in the microarray analysis was verified by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in five HEEC cultures obtained from women in the proliferative phase and in five cultures obtained from women in the secretory phase of the menstrual cycle after treatment with o,p'-DDT. The present study supports our previous findings of decreased proliferation and increased cell death in response to o,p'-DDT and may offer important clues to the mechanisms of action of o,p'-DDT.

Gray seal females living in the Baltic Sea have been found to exhibit a high prevalence of uterine leiomyomas. These animals are also known to accumulate lipid-soluble PCBs in their blubber. PCBs have documented endocrine-disrupting effects; to investigate whether the PCBs could be part of the genesis of uterine smooth muscle tumors in this species, gray seal myometrial cell cultures were exposed to two CBs and their metabolites, as well as to estradiol and progesterone, after which the effects were analyzed in terms of proliferative activity by measurements of BrdU absorbance and protein content. Progesterone was found to have an inhibitory effect, whereas one CB acted as a stimulant on the myometrial cell proliferation. One of the CB metabolites also seemed to have an inhibitory effect, although this could not be statistically verified. These results suggest that some CBs have effects on uterine myometrial cell proliferation in gray seals and, thus, may also take part in the growth regulation of uterine leiomyomas.